Engaged to Death is an Italian motorcycle film originally shot in 1956 with the title I Fianzati Della Morte. It was filmed by Romolo Marcellini, who was nominated for an Oscar in 1961 for a later film, and the timing meant it features the golden age of 1950s Italian motorcycle racing.
That means it shows the dominant Moto Guzzi and Gilera machines of the time, including the legendary Moto Guzzi V8. Not only can you admire a rare bike (only three were produced), but it also has the only footage of testing inside the wind tunnel at Mandello del Lario. And the story takes in a wide variety of settings, including Monza, the Milano-Taranto race, the 1956 Grand Prix, an Italian Wall of Death and sidecar racers on German dirt tracks.
1956 was actually the final Milano Taranto, which was said to be the longest of the Italian street races of the time. And it was open to anyone with a driving licence and a motorcycle read to race. No wonder ‘Engaged to Death’ might have seemed an appropriate title when anyone could enter and race to their limit on the Italian roads of the time.
Just check out the I Fidanzati Della Morte (Engaged to Death) trailer.
Want to see more from the year before Moto Guzzi, Gilera and Mondial decided to stop being involved with speed racing? Well, the good news is that the film has been ‘adopted’ by Rodaggio Film, who apparently specialise in distributing rare and independent motorcycle films.
That means you could soon be able to watch the full feature, which benefitted from technical advice from Gilera rider and three-time Milano-Taranto winner Bruno Francisci and features racers of the time including Geoff Duke, Libero Liberati, Dickie Dale, Albino Milani, Bill Lomas, Ken Kavanagh, Keith Campbell, Stanley Woods, Enrico Lorenzetti and Reg Armstrong.
Currently it only exists as two 35mm celluloid copies, which have obviously aged over the last 60 years. So Rodaggio Film have set up a Kickstarter appeal to fund the costs of restoration, digitisation, and release as a DVD with special contents, interviews and a booklet, plus also making it available as video on demand.
The fund is aiming to reach 20,000 Euros by Saturday, May 6th, 2017. There are various levels of support from 15 Euros, which gets you access to the online video and a mention as a supporter in the end credits. If you pledge 3,000 Euros, you get 20 copies of the DVD, 10 T-shirts and limited edition posters, a sponsor mention in the opening credits and downloadable content. As with all Kickstarters, the project has to meet it’s goal or they don’t receive a penny.
There’s no schedule for how long it will take to complete the restoration and digital version. An early estimate would be during the summer of 2017. And it’d make some interesting summer viewing for any fans of classic Italian motorcycles.
Will it be subtitled into English too?
Yep, English and several other languages. And subtitles mean that we can understand the plot, but nothing will change the glorious sound of the bikes. Which is perfect 馃檪